Nursing Point

Saturday, September 28, 2013

The Daily Mirror today reports that, “taking ibuprofen every day
could extend your life by up to 12 YEARS”. The Daily Express also has a
similar front page headline, while the Mail Online suggests that these
extra years would be of “good quality life”.

If you read these headlines and felt sceptical, you’d be right to do so.

The
news has been extrapolated to humans, based on research in yeast,
microscopic worms and fruit flies. These organisms are often used in
longevity research due to their naturally short lifespans – even the
longest-lived among them is measured in days, not decades.

However, if a chemical does extend lifespan in these relatively
simple organisms, this is not a guarantee that it will do the same in
more complex organisms, such as mammals. We also have no idea whether
any extension of life would be of “good quality”.

Even in the
fruit flies, the effect was more complicated than in yeast or worms.
Ibuprofen increased the flies’ average lifespan, but actually reduced
the maximum lifespan in male flies.

We’re definitely not at a
stage where taking ibuprofen every day could be recommended as a way to
extend your lifespan. While some people might think “what harm can it
do?" and "it might do some good”, ibuprofen is not risk-free. As with most drugs, ibuprofen can cause side effects, including gastrointestinal bleeding.

Where did the story come from?

The
study was carried out by researchers from the Buck Institute for
Research on Aging, and universities in the US and Russia. It was funded
by the US National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

The study was published in the peer-reviewed, open access journal PLOS Genetics.

The
newspapers’ headlines are unwarranted over-extrapolations of this
animal and laboratory research. Most later clarified that the research
was in yeast, worms and flies – but read in isolation, the headlines are
misleading.

This seems an irresponsible approach, given the
potential harm that could result from people taking a cheap and
readily-available drug unnecessarily.

What kind of research was this?

This was an animal and laboratory study looking at whether ibuprofen increases lifespan in flies, worms and yeast.

The researchers say that ibuprofen has been associated with a reduction in the risk of some age-related problems such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. However, whether it also has an effect on lifespan is unknown.

The
organisms used in this study are often used in studies of lifespan, as
their lives are short. This means that researchers can quickly find out
if a chemical affects lifespan. If they find the same effect on lifespan
in the multiple organisms tested, this suggests that the chemical is
affecting a system that has been evolutionarily “conserved” across
different organisms. This makes it more likely that the effect may also
apply to other, untested, organisms.

However, flies, worms and
yeast are relatively simple organisms, and things that affect their
lifespans may not have the same impact on more complex organisms such as
mammals. For example, while a chemical might double lifespan in a
yeast, even if it also has an effect on lifespan in mice, it would be
unlikely to have as dramatic an effect.

The researchers say that
getting from chemicals that show promise in yeast and other organisms to
drugs that are effective and safe in humans is a “significant hurdle”.
For this reason, they wanted to look at a drug that was already used in
humans, as they are already known to be safe enough for human use.

What did the research involve?

The
researchers tested the effects of ibuprofen on one type of yeast, one
type of microscopic worm, and fruit flies. In each case they exposed one
group of yeast/worms/flies to ibuprofen and another group was not
exposed (controls). They measured how long each group lived to see if it
differed.

For yeast and worms, exposing them to ibuprofen
involved growing them in a solution containing the drug. For yeast, the
study looked at how long they were able to keep dividing to produce new
yeast cells – a standard measure of their “active” lifespan. For flies,
this involved feeding them with a solution that included ibuprofen. The
organisms were grown in standard conditions, to make sure that the only
thing that differed between them was whether or not they received
ibuprofen.

The researchers then carried out a wide range of detailed experiments to determine how ibuprofen was having an effect.

What were the basic results?

The
researchers found that yeast exposed to ibuprofen lived 17% longer on
average than they did without it. Worms exposed to ibuprofen throughout
their lives lived about 20 days, compared to about 18 days on average
without ibuprofen. The researchers said that the levels of ibuprofen
that extended the lifespan of worms and yeast were in the range of
levels reached in people taking ibuprofen at typical doses.

In
female fruit flies, ibuprofen extended the average lifespan and also the
maximum lifespan. In male fruit flies, ibuprofen extended the average
lifespan but, oddly, reduced the maximum lifespan. This meant that the
shorter-lived flies were living longer with ibuprofen, but the
longest-lived flies were not living as long.

The researchers found that ibuprofen seemed to be having its effect by reducing uptake of the amino acid tryptophan by cells.